mypetfriends.co.uk

Marriages have been on the increase in recent years, but so too have relationship breakdowns and divorces. But custody battles over who keeps the pet are increasingly becoming obstacles to a swift and amicable split.

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Paul White, a relationship counsellor from Manchester, told My Pet Friends that he sees clients who find it easy to settle on who’ll have the house, car or the DVD collection, but can’t overcome who’ll have custody of the children and the household pet.

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He goes on to say that ‘”people who come and see me are quite prepared for the emotional turmoil a divorce can cause. They often argue about who’ll have custody over the children but discussions have increasingly focussed on who has the pet – these can become quite fraught.

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I remember one couple who argued over who would have custody over their cat Buster. A simple share was not possible as the cat would not customise itself to two different environments and neither party would give up. In the end it was decided that they would flip a coin for him.

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Although an amicable decision would have been the best and most sensible solution, the couple agreed to the outcome.”

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In Hollywood, custody battles over the pet are common place. When Drew Barrymore divorced Tom Green, she argued for rights to their Labrador Flossie; and when Orlando Bloom split from Kate Bosworth, he got Sidi the black Labrador.

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But this is also occurring in the UK. George and Alex Best fought over their two red setters, Red and Rua, during their divorce, and Will and Julia Carling reached an out-of-court settlement over Biff the black Labrador.

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If an amicable split can’t be settled upon, some have resorted to Dog-snatching. A relatively new phenomenon, Dog-snatching is on the rise in the UK with a 140% increase reported in the last year.

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Paul White suggests that owners need to consider the psychological impact a custody battle can have on their pets, “some people will use their pet as a way of preventing the divorces from going ahead. If you really love your pet, you would not let your pet suffer in the divorce process.”

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